Opinions on Acoustic Portrait's new Swara Pre and Power Amps

[avidyarthy]

OT ......
Therez a Yam A-S500 for sale in Mumbai ... Denzong.
85W at 8 O ... 120W at 4 O ..... @ 17K

 

[jai1611]

I'm not sure of this version but the earlier Acoustic Portrait AM-1 didnt quite have enough juice for the tougher Dynaudios. The particular one being offered for sale is not a full dual mono version anyway so may fall short. It may do a better job than most entry level Marantz, Nad etc amps (not sure though) but defnintely wont be enough to get the best out of your speakers

 

[tek]

Hey Jai

Thanks for the input. Here's what AP had to say about the Dyns:


"This amp is rated 70 watts @ 8 ohms. At 4 ohms, the power available will be much more.

Hence the amp can easily drive your speakers. More than just rated power, the amp's ability to control the speakers - across the frequency spectrum is very good. Many amps do not handle the low freq well and causes the speakers to "boom" (which might sound like an issue with room-acoustic). But this amp will control the speakers well at low frequency and avoid this boom, which will be of very good use in small listening rooms."

Right now it's a toss up between this AP amp, the Arcam A28 or I guess a Yamaha AS700. These all fall within the budget of 30k. Is there anything else within this budget that I am missing that would be better suited for my Dynaudio BM6?

 

[jai1611]

@Tek, I have tried an AP AM-1 with a Dynaudio Contour 1.3se. To my ears, it didn't have enough grunt for those speakers. I don't know if the new model is more powerful or if your speakers are a bit easier to drive than the Contours

 

[square_wave]

@Tek, I have tried an AP AM-1 with a Dynaudio Contour 1.3se. To my ears, it didn't have enough grunt for those speakers. I don't know if the new model is more powerful or if your speakers are a bit easier to drive than the Contours

Agree...the AM-1 will not work with the contour. The CPA-3 is 200 watts per channel and dual mono. It will drive it with gusto.

 

[tek]

I am coming close to pulling the trigger and ordering this AP amp. It's either this or the Arcam A28, but I am leaning more to the AP firstly coz it's new and I would like to support a local manufacturer. Unless anyone thinks it's a "terrible" idea to use my Dynaudio BM6 with these, I think I might go for them. Still need to wait a couple of weeks before I can get them though, so there's time to change my mind

 

[aurobindosaha]

Hi All

Spent around 2 hours to go through this thread. I called Siva a month back, and he mentioned about the integrated amp. Now it costs around 35K INR and its about 70 W per channel.

When I told Siva about the speaker I short listed (KEF R300) which can drive 100 W per channel he mentioned, power of amp does not matter, its the sensitivity that matters.
I do not quite follow that since I am not a pro

Anyway, I have a 18 ft by 14 ft room.

I am open to trying other speakers too. But I kind of liked R300 when I auditioned it in ProFx. For some reason Q series did not chyme to my ears.

Suggestions welcome. Also kindly mention the price when you suggest a brand/model.

My budget for the 2 channel set up is 1.5L INR; and I prefer only music and prefer not to use this set up for movies.

Thanks
Aurobindo

 

[SwaroopKS]

Hi All

Spent around 2 hours to go through this thread. I called Siva a month back, and he mentioned about the integrated amp. Now it costs around 35K INR and its about 70 W per channel.

When I told Siva about the speaker I short listed (KEF R300) which can drive 100 W per channel he mentioned, power of amp does not matter, its the sensitivity that matters.
I do not quite follow that since I am not a pro

Anyway, I have a 18 ft by 14 ft room.

I am open to trying other speakers too. But I kind of liked R300 when I auditioned it in ProFx. For some reason Q series did not chyme to my ears.

Suggestions welcome. Also kindly mention the price when you suggest a brand/model.

My budget for the 2 channel set up is 1.5L INR; and I prefer only music and prefer not to use this set up for movies.

Thanks
Aurobindo

Hi Aurobindo,

There is a pair of Acoustic portrait speakers for sale in classifieds in bangalore itself. Try to audition them. They should pair amazingly with AP amp.

You may save tons of money in the process this way instead of going for commercial brands

Also to answer your question the 100W indicated for Kefs must be their peak power handling. So in daily use, you would not be running them at total 100w level! 30-70W would be sufficient depending on sensitivity of speakers.

Sensitivity is measure of how loud the speakers can go per each watt of power input into them.

I know FM raghupb has R300s, so you can check with him for specific feedback on those.

Thanks
Satya

 

[raghupb]

@aurobinosaha

Siva is absolutely right. The rating on the speaker in question (KEF R300) is 25-120W.
Max output is 110dB which roughly translates to 120W handling.
So a 70Wpc is more than enough to drive these speakers. Normal listening levels do not exceed more than 10-20W from the amp.

All this is assuming whatever amp is paired with a good set of speakers has the current drive capacity. AP should have it; from what I have read Siva pays a lot attention to such things.

I have had the KEFs for about 3 weeks now and they are very good. If you want to hear them in a home setting you are welcome. I have 3 choices of amps 50Wpc AVR, 70Wpc IA, 200Wpc monoblocks; take your pick.

Cheers,
Raghu